Marginalization Nation : How Agenda Setting Hurts Marginalized Communities

Something important to realize about media is that the media can't really tell you what to think, but they can tell you what to think about. 

Take for instance a normal 24/7 news day and the images we constantly receive from major media publications like CNN, The Guardian, New York Times, etc. Ever notice how they will all pretty much be covering the same story, hopefully with a different interpretation or perspective, yet regardless you will still seem to receive the same information? 

This is because if a news item is covered frequently and prominently, the audience will regard the issue as more important, thus making it important. A vicious cycle that has been predetermined for you to receive and interpret before you've even heard any details.
                                                       Crazy, ain't it? 

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Agenda Setting Theory describes the ability of the news media to influence the salience of topics on the public agenda. This theory effects us all in a very large way - especially marginalized communities because the media often treats them as a voiceless entity. 

http://lessonbucket.com/media-in-minutes/the-agenda-setting-function-theory/

The cyclical nature of what messages are being reinforced directly influence the way we view the world.  Above you can how our perceptions of reality are effected by certain media messages and their ability to select, omit and frame stories in a way that both the agenda and reality can fit into. 


I bring this theory up because it is important to recognize that this exist and to use the knowledge of media manipulation to think about what's stories aren't being shared, what voice aren't being heard, what identities aren't getting recognized that should be.


- K

Melissa Harris-Perry Speaks at CSU

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A simple online search of Melissa Harris-Perry will tell you that she is an American writer, professor, television host, and political commentator with a focus on African-American politics. Basically, she's a super hero and can do everything.

Harris-Perry hosts the Melissa Harris-Perry weekend news and opinion television show on MSNBC. She is also a regular fill-in host on The Rachel Maddow Show as well as a professor of politics and international affairs at Wake Forest University, where she is the founding director of the Anna Julia Cooper Project on Gender, Race, and Politics in the South. Prior to this, she taught at Princeton University and the University of Chicago. She is a regular columnist for the magazine The Nation, and the author of Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America.

      Now that I have that out of the way, she is also really funny, really inspiring and really brilliant.  

Harris-Perry spoke at the college I attend, Colorado State University, on Sunday night. She spoke about Black History Month in the context of the Black Lives Matter Movement, Adult citizenship, calling for black bodies to no longer take the "junior positions" or taking up a position as a "the" (something like "The Black Vote" or "The Black Candidate") ontological blackness and how it relates to how other intersectional identities (she mentioned the Queer and Tran* experience while I snapped my fingers poetically to myself in the back of the room) share similarities, citizenship for individuals persons (stating that true citizenship starts in the uterus and I instantly fell in love with this euphemism), how Black Cultural Participatory language is a language that not everyone "understands or bothers to translate," (which she masterfully demonstrated through subtle Beyonce Formation lyrics) among many other social inequities that mainstream media attempt to whitewash and skate over. 

                                                 Basically, she's a powerhouse.

Harris-Perry spoke with an air of intelligence over these subject and a shared personal connection with the wrongful nature of subjugating black bodies into any particular "social confinement." 

She spoke about how the #BLM Movement is not a novel or new ideology and theorized what Martin Luther King Jr. would have thought about this social media charged movement if he would be alive today. She suggested that MLK would have used social media for greater aspects of visualizing social injustices, citing his face words of "A riot is the language of the unheard." 

A point she made which really resonated with me was when she spoke about the notion, that we all as a society know, that "Race isn't a biological reality." She then went on to say that "We know that race is not real, but we feel it in our bodies." These words hung heavy in the room after she said them, simply because I think she wanted us to really ruminate on this idea. This made me thing about the falsity of living in a post-racial world that I spoke about in my last blog post. When people attempt to speak and internalize issues concerning race in a way that denies the pain, discrimination and ultimately eraser of race as an identifier, they are essentially taking away the ability "to feel." 

Harris-Perry ended her lecture in summation of the main points she believes are reinforcing the visual landscape of a post racial society we receive from mainstream media and that of black people taking on "junior partnership roles" (the lesser) in all facets of society.  She states:

1. We live in an age that highlights the continuing abuse of *black* bodies and perpetuates disgust for and control of these bodies.

1. Our colleges are more economically and racially homogeneous.

1. Education is increasingly defined by narrow measurement performance. 

1. Our lives are increasingly mediated by technology. 

She ended her speech with alot of great one-liners that I honestly started jumbling them all up trying to write them down fast enough. Basically, she said that "College should be hard, but it should be safe." We should be pushing ourselves to have these hard conversations and treat them with respect and humility in order to become well-rounded and knowledgeable human beings.

And I couldn't agree more. 

- K

Intersectional Feminism & Race: The Radical Notion that All People Have Worth

We cannot even begin to speak about socially constructed inequities for gender, sex and sexual orientation/preference (which are, from my perspective, the three pillars of the Queer Experience) without looking at the Institutionalized Oppression of all Subordinated Identities from Dominating Identities.

                                                                

That was my "higher education social justice jargon speak" saying that in order to truly be an Intersectional Feminist, you have to allow all identities to have a seat at the table if you want an honest and diverse dinner party. 

                              

http://giphy.com/gifs/feminism-portlandia-the-patriarchy-TL9A8foUwpuo0

                                        ~  Oh yeah. I said it. In the form of a gif.  ~

                                    First things first, some definitions

For anyone who uses the words "prejudice," "discrimination," and/or "racism" interchangeably...


Feeling of dislike for a racial or ethnic group + belief in this dislike = Prejudice

Actions that harm those you have prejudice against = Discrimination

Institutionalization of this discrimination, which is perpetuated in society (when discrimination becomes a part of how the society does things and systematically influences biases) = Racism

                                                              And finally

A word for people who typically use these words interchangeably....

The feeling or recognition of when something "is not a problem" because it is not a problem to you personally = Privilege 

http://giphy.com/gifs/feminism-portlandia-the-patriarchy-TL9A8foUwpuo0

#BlessJessicaWilliams5ever

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Now that we have that out of the way, let's talk about why this matters to you, to me, and to all of us together. It matters because there is some rhetoric and belief out there that we are currently living in a Post-Racial Democratic Society because of Civil Rights, Affirmative Action, the fact that we have a Black President, etc. (Ha, no seriously, good joke).

The cold hard truth though, my fellow sweet, naive citizens, this belief is a fallacy.

            Interesting how we used to laugh at comedians and listen to politicians and now we                                               laugh at politicians and listen to comedians. But I digress.

                   WHY THIS MATTERS:

Funnily enough, being a conscious media consumer also includes, yet is not limited to, also being a good human being.
For this reason, it is important to be aware of the language you are using or reinforcing. 

Being mindful of these terms and actions will hopefully make it easier for you to be able to spot problematic words/phrases/slang/ridiculous or politically charged mind-washing jargon (I'm looking at you Fox News) in order to not participate in the larger dysfunctional nature that accompanies pure, unadulterated ignorance. 

MTV's Decoded, a web series which features blogger/comedian/feminist extraordinaire Franchesca Ramsey, tackles the big issues of race, identity inequity, social injustice and pop culture all with an honest and comedic spin geared towards a younger audience. But of course, something meant to help and entertain millennials can also be infiltrated by older audiences as well. I like to think of the Decoded Youtube Channel kind of like a Social Justice Facebook page that you're 60 year old aunt who lives in Idaho never knew she needed to watch until you sit her down and show her how it works.


                         Social Justice training for all. Finally, MTV did something right.

Ramsey recently posted a video titled "5 Things You Should Know About Racism." In the video, Ramsey outlines explicitly what racism is, urging her audience to push through the initial discomfort which usually subconsciously permeates conversations about the topic. She points out the ironic nature of the dictionary definition of racism, which states that racism is the "hatred or intolerance of another race or races." While this definition is not wrong, it is limited and simplified. 

Ramsey defines racism rather from a sociological perspective, which denotes that racism is a combination of how prejudice (that word I defined earlier if you were paying attention) and power interact within the complex societal structures created and reinforced by people, organizations and other institutions. 

                    Here I have broken down the 5 different things Ramsey wants us to know"

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1. Good people can unintentionally say and do racist things.

I know what you're thinking and NO you cannot use this as an excuse. Racism isn't always a conscious hatred or dislike, rather it shows up in many different forms. Therefore conversations about race should be treated with extreme caution and humility. People automatically associate being a racist with "being a bad person," and while sometimes this may in fact just be the case (Fox News, I am STILL looking at you) it is not necessarily true. Well intended people "step in it," all the time. What is important to remember is that it doesn't really matter what the INTENT of your words are, rather the IMPACT they have on those around you.

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2. Race is a social construct, but that doesn't mean racism isn't real.

Ramsey defines a social construction (for anyone who isn't already a self proclaimed social justice warrior who uses this phrase to define literally EVERYTHING) as a "category, perception or idea created and developed by society and then applied to individuals or groups." So even though social constructs are made up, they still affect people and interactions in a very real way. 

Race, though socially constructed, cannot be discounted as a very important and defining identity for someone's individual experience. 

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3. Colorblindness is not going to fix racism. 

The ideology of being "colorblind" is actually the deliberate avoidance of privileging any one race over another, basically denying that this happens systematically in our society/ Essentially what people are saying when they say they are "colorblind" is "Oh, no. I know that isn't fair, but I'm not a racist, so I am just going to act like I know nothing about it." Just because you want a system of privilege to not exist doesn't mean you can choose to not acknowledge racial oppression. Ignoring racism isn't going to get rid of racism. Instead, adopt a color conscious ideology, which seeks to acknowledge and understand differences in race as a means of understanding someone's life experience. 
 

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4. Reverse racism is not a thing.

Do you really need an explanation?
It's not.

If you're still not convinced, read S.E. Smith has to say about this subject in the link below.

http://www.dailydot.com/opinion/reverse-racism-doesnt-exist/

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5. Racism isn't just about individuals. It's about Institutional Power. 

Ramsey wants everyone to know that racism is not just something that happens on a "person to person basis." Racism is a widespread, subconsciously intertwined issue in the lives we all live. All of us. We cannot pretend it doesn't exist or that it doesn't affect people in a very big, sometimes detrimental way.

Hopefully, by breaking down these concepts and misconceptions, you will feel more comfortable to engage in healthy dialogues with those around you about race. 

It is my belief that in order to truly call yourself an Intersectional Feminist, you must act like one. You must be curious, not judgmental. You must be open and willing, not closed-off and shy to dialogues of differences. You must be willing to cross bridges for people and seek genuine understanding and connection.

http://giphy.com/gifs/beyonce-knowles-vma-iEtEgWecFOS4M

- K

America's Next Top Gay BFF - Deconstructing LGBTQ+ Stereotypes in Media

                                                 We've all seen the shows. 

You know, the ones with a fiercely flamboyant gay (usually white) cisgender man, whose main job is to sass it up for comic relief in an otherwise typical heteronormative plot. #ThanksABC #AlsoNBC 

The plot of these shows are never really about him though, unless of course it was produced by LOGO TV, but at least he's there right? At least there is some kind of Queer representation right? 

But what happens when this character archetype begins to "speak" for the entire Queer Community? MADNESS THAT'S WHAT.

           Enter the problematic nature of Gay Best Friend, or commonly referred to as the "GBF."

He's a "sweet guy." Usually an All-American (I'm talking Bernie, not Hilary) who just wants to go shopping, talk about mutual boy crushes, and remind you that you are a strong independent woman and that Chad/Todd/Adam/Josh/etc does not deserve you.  He makes you feel like you need to do this snapping motion whenever he's around.

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He's everything you've ever wanted in a GBF. He's sensitive like your girl friends, yet still rugged and handsome like the men who you can't seem to make stay (well until the last 15 minutes of the movie or show when your crush shows up and suddenly wants you and you kiss while The Cranberries play in the background).
He's either ridiculously good looking, like a Greek God, OR he's adorable and "fabulous."
Either way you craft this character to fit your needs- he's "non-threatening" and someone you can really connect with. And feminine. Always feminine. As if being feminine is a requirement for being a gay man in a straight man's world.

Oh wait, it is.
I wonder who set that up? I wonder how these messages about what being a good GBF affect real Queer people in Real Life.

Life imitates art.
Funny how that works.

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The issue with the GBF is that this character is not representative of all Queer people. When mainstream media adds a GBF to a cast of all straight characters it is usually with the intention of making a cast more "diverse," when in fact what really ends up happening is you end up placing the character into a box in which they can never get out of. 

Never grow from. 

Never develop into something or someone grandeur. 

The only problems they face will be problems that directly interact with their sexual identity, or whatever other stereotype you are forcing them to emulate. Media consumers take in these messages and then translate them into their subconscious belief of what the Queer experience must truly be like. This affects the way we interact with each other, even when the show is over and the TV is off.

By reinforcing these stereotypes in media, we as a society, actually end up tokenizing people rather than just allowing them to exist as they are. Having a "token" GBF doesn't mean your content is diverse, it just means that you are only giving perfunctory or symbolic effort to create representation for a small number of people from underrepresented groups in order to give the appearance of sexual or racial equality within a environment.

                                              Not cool.

http://giphy.com/gifs/modern-family-cameron-tucker-cam-Q3XePk0TUWnjW

Stereotyping is the act of placing people into a widely held (but fixed and oversimplified) image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. 

What's interesting is that knowledge of what stereotypes are and how untrue they can be still someone doesn’t necessarily translate into a belief that these images of a certain group are not the end-all-be-all-catch-all for their experience. So how do people learn about other identity groups they may not be a part of without interacting with directly them? Simple. By creating identity frameworks through the media that people can easily access and understand, all of which need to give realistic representations of what people are truly like.

Great ideology in theory, a bit tricky in practice. 

Unfortunately, what we typically see happen is mainstream media takes a very small, narrow view of a certain identity group, funnel it through very expensive and institutionalized social construction machines, and VIOLA we have a new pilot for an ABC show that has more Queer representation than ever before - only problem with this is that we believe we're gaining more media influence when really we are receiving the same representation, just regurgitated with a new name and face. It's the same character, with different lines. 

Take for example, Cam from the popular show Modern Family.

First let me start by saying this show is absolutely hilarious. And usually does a pretty good job of calling out identity inequities and making fun of them in a self aware and socially conscious way. With that being said, I chose to analyze Cam's character because his representation has been able to penetrate American media's consumer in an acceptable way. His humor and happy-go-lucky demeanor make him relatable to the general public while his Queer identity make him just "taboo" enough to be a spectacle. 

http://giphy.com/gifs/modern-family-cameron-tucker-cam-jwsZ7YLYrq8UM

Cam's feminine behavior and sassy candor make him a great example of how the image of the GBF is becoming the new standard for gay men in media. Much like the Model Minority Myth, which is basically the perception that "Asian cultural values" (hard work, family cohesion, self-sufficiency, drive for success) propelled recent immigrants into and beyond American middle class quickly, the GBF archetype creates one image of how Gay men should act, talk, dress, walk, etc and does little to challenge any other possibility outside of this box. 

Canada's Center for Digital and Media Literacy have done extensive research on the problematic nature of Queer Stereotyping in main stream media. The Center suggests "When discussing media representation of various groups, especially those we consider marginalized, stereotypes are often a primary concern. But sometimes, breaking a stereotype doesn’t go quite far enough, and the issue can be a little more complicated than merely determining whether or not a character is represented in a positive or negative way." 

I reference the Canada's Center for Digital and Media Literacy to point out that I am not saying that the GBF stereotype is either positive or negative, yet I am merely trying to recognize that regardless of the GBF's behavior during the show or movie, the job of breaking the stereotype is not on the GBF character but more so on the character's around them and how they are treated. This then translate to the larger implications of how people with commonly held dominate identities treat marginalized groups in real life.

We take in messages from the media and they directly influence how we show up in real life. Do not naively believe that these two worlds do not influence each other, because they absolutely do.

http://giphy.com/gifs/modern-family-cameron-tucker-cam-8UnrOw7MSfbd6

In the scene below, we see Cam being a good GBF and helping his friend Gloria find her lost dog. That she hates. So much. And the only reason she is trying to find the dog in the first place is because her husband loves the dog and she doesn't want him to know she lost her out of fear of upsetting him and looking irresponsible. LOOK AT THAT - Heternormativity strikes again. OK, back to the scene. 

Cam calls his husband Mitchell, an arguably "more macho" gay man on the show, yet that statement is really pushing it. Cam then proceeds to reference a scene from the popular drama A Street Car Named Desire, because clearly since he's a gay man he is a fan of the arts, and he then proceeds to act out the scene in a dramatic and flamboyant manner. Though the scene is funny, it is also very apparent what stereotypes the writers were toying with to get their humor across. 

From my experience, I can see how stereotyping impedes communication in at least 4 ways:

1.  They reinforce the assumptions that widely held beliefs are true when this may not be the case for all people who hold stereotypical identities.

1.  They have a self-perpetuating nature, meaning the more we see them and talk about them, the more prevalent they seem, thus the more they are reinforced. It's a vicious cycle really. #StopStereotyping2k16

1. They link widely held belief about a group to an individual and that inversely causes them to be placed in a confined space in which they can exist. This makes people feel like they have no autonomy. 

1. They typically have a self-fulfilling prophecy, meaning some individuals may then feel as though they need to uphold certain stereotypes in order to feel as though they are "normal." This perpetuates that cycle I was talking about. 

My advice: Combat automatic and subconscious stereotyping intrinsically. Stereotypes function like bad habits and their consequences may be spontaneous and undesirable, so try your best to deconstruct all the messages you have been conditioned to believe to be true.

There is nothing wrong with having a GBF, as long as that person is your BF because you genuinely care for them and want to support and understand them, not just because they're gay. 

- K